From our neighbors to the west … I grew up in New York State in the age of Mario Cuomo. Andrew Cuomo is coarser and meaner, but he gets this one right:

The governor also continued to use Hurricane Sandy as a reason to talk about global warming.

“Climate change is real,” he said. “It is denial to say each of these situations is a once-in-a-lifetime. There is a 100-year flood every two years now. It is inarguable that the sea is warmer and there is a changing weather pattern, and the time to act is now.”

Among his proposals were a bailout fund for homeowners who want to move out of flood-prone regions, and aid for building homes that can withstand floods — ideas that are contingent on how much federal aid comes through. He also called for measures to better protect subways, public utilities, the fuel delivery system and New York Harbor.

We should look at Sandy and say “There but for the grace of God go I.” Actually, we should understand that it’s coming our way sooner or later.

We need to hear from our Governor how we’re going to prepare for coming disasters, and to have him use the bully pulpit — loudly and frequently — to speak out about climate, with the same urgency as he does about issues of justice and compassion.

I think we should spend any cost to make these neighborhoods viable in the face of climate change, and I thought the same thing after large stretches of New Orleans were basically abandoned after Katrina. If the Dutch can figure out how to make a country out of an ocean, I think we can, too.

The size and scope of our efforts to tackle Climate Change should be as important to us, and as heavily invested in by us, as when we went to the moon.

But our attempts to mitigate the very real damage that is already happening, and going to continue to happen, because of the climate change that’s already happened and what can’t be stopped should be like the fracking Manhattan Project — in which literally 1/4 of our country’s electrical power was diverted toward making the bomb.

A lot of what we need to do to combat climate change is policy, and a lot the investments needed in things like wind, solar and conservation will actually save money not just in the long run, but in the medium run, too.

But keeping places like New Orleans, Manhattan and Staten Island (and huge swaths of Boston, as we’ll likely find out soon enough) viable going into the future is going to be a costly venture — one that is worth the cost, and will bring jobs and make the country a better place, but one we need to be prepared to open up pocket books for.